The 49-year-old will take over top spot in that roll of honour from previous record-holder Carlo Ancelotti, who was 51, and join other centurions Arsene Wenger, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Alex Ferguson.

The Real Madrid coach might afford himself a wry smile that the fixtures have fallen in such a way that he reaches the milestone in England when he steps out before his side face Manchester City.

There will be far greater recognition for his achievement there than in Spain where last week both he and Cristiano Ronaldo were ignored in the Spanish League's awards for last season.

Ronaldo came third in the best striker category and Mourinho was beaten by Pep Guardiola for the best coach award, despite Real Madrid and not Barcelona finishing on top of the league with the biggest points tally in the history of the competition.

If the lack of respect from awards voted for by Spain's professionals ahead of the final weekend of last season are difficult to understand, the ongoing frosty relationship with the two men and their own club is stranger still.

If you are a Real Madrid supporter, what's not to like about the manager who has registered 100 wins faster than any other coach in the league's history, and the player who has reached 100 goals faster than any of the club's illustrious strikers?

Yet, there were jeers from a minority of home supporters for Mourinho during the win over Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu on Saturday and the club has still set no date for new contract talks with Ronaldo.

Both men talk of staying in Spain but have also admitted to missing the Premier League – Spain remains the love affair that just never got started.

Real were winning 5-1 on Saturday when supporters in a section of the Santiago Bernabeu began singing the coach's name, prompting those from another section of the ground to drown out the homage. It's a regularly-expressed difference of opinion among supporters.

"It didn't happen at Chelsea, at Porto or at Inter," said Mourinho when asked to comment afterwards about the whistles were.

"If they whistled (Zinedine) Zidane, if they whistled the other Ronaldo, if they whistled Cristiano Ronaldo, then why are they not going to whistle me?"

Ronaldo remains more at odds with the club's directors than with its supporters. Fans applauded him during Saturday's game, despite him not scoring, but they support the club and not the player over the delay in offering him a new contract.

He currently takes home around €10m (£8.1m) annually. The now defunct 'Beckham Law' that previously meant big foreign signings had to pay only 24.75pc tax means any new Ronaldo contract would be subject to 52pc tax.

Burden

And, with the club shouldering the fiscal burden, that means that, if even Ronaldo's take-home pay was frozen at €10m, it would cost Real Madrid €20m a season.

They could pay more of his wages as image rights and then reduce the amount of those rights they rake back – currently around 50pc – but remain reluctant to do that, leaving his future at the club beyond this season far from settled.

Ronaldo has said he would not join Manchester City as long as Ferguson remains at Old Trafford. Paris Saint-Germain looks like the only other club financially capable of moving him closer to the top of the table in terms of earnings.

Mourinho's contract also runs until 2016. Seeing it through at a club that has hired and fired 25 coaches in as many years would be almost as impressive as winning the league in four different countries. This week's Champions League opponents were the favourites to take him last season but they kept faith with Roberto Mancini and have since hired Txiki Begiristain – a man with a track record of overlooking Mourinho.

The latest stick he's been beaten with at Madrid is that he has done nothing to bring the club's youth players into the first team.

Based on albeit slightly generous estimated transfer fees, Catalan paper 'Sport' last week claimed that Barcelona's youth system had produced around £400m worth of talent over the last five years.

What is true, however, is that success at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale was achieved almost entirely without young players to whom Mourinho gave a debut.

Of Real's probable team for Wednesday, only goalkeeper Iker Casillas and full-back Alvaro Arbeloa (who had to move to Liverpool to gain recognition) will have come through the youth system.

Should they win against City, they will almost certainly be through to the last 16. Winning the club's 10th European Cup, and Mourinho's third, remains the priority.

"One day it will be my turn to respond and they will be left sad," he said of those first whistles at the singing of his name. Whatever he and Ronaldo go on to achieve at Madrid, you get the feeling when the time does come to say goodbye the emotional ties will be cut painlessly.

"He's glad he didn't win the award," said Mourinho's assistant Aitor Karanka when asked about the manager's reaction to not being voted best manager despite his historic league title.